Chamber and committees

There are no current plans to deploy Operator of Last Resort (OLR) arrangements for Caledonian Sleeper services. Consequently, the Scottish Government has not undertaken an assessment of the costs associated with OLR at this time.

Transport Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers has contingency arrangements in place for OLR which could be mobilised in the event a franchise agreement is terminated or otherwise comes to an end and no further franchise agreement has been entered into, in line with the Scottish Ministers’ duty under Section 30 of the Railways Act 1993.

Guidance on Self-Directed Support during the Pandemic (updated and published on 11 March 2022) addresses the underspend of allocated budgets. The guidance states "Where Local Authorities or Health and Social Care Partnerships have concerns about underspend of allocated budgets, these should be reconciled in line with local contractual arrangements." Local authorities were notified of the updated guidance in a letter from myself on 11 March 2022.

Per person, frontline health spending in Scotland is £111 (3.6%) higher than in England and £146 (4.8%) higher than in Wales.

Proportionately, that’s over £600 million more spending on frontline health services in Scotland compared to England, and almost £800 million more compared to Wales; this would be equivalent to over 14,000 and 18,000 nurses, respectively

The Memorandum of Understanding for additional investment in the Aberdeen City Region allows for up to £10 million of funding to help extend digital infrastructure across the region. To date £5 million of this funding has been spent.

£2 million was invested in the City Network Extension project which connected 57 council sites to full fibre with build completing in 2021. This investment successfully stimulated around £40 million of commercial investment across the region by CityFibre and Vodafone who are utilising this infrastructure to help extend the reach of full fibre broadband across the region. In January 2022 CityFibre announced a further £19 million of investment in Aberdeen.

£3 million was invested in the Full Fibre Infrastructure project which will connect 192 public sector and NHS sites across Aberdeenshire. To date, 190 sites have been connected with one site expected to be completed in the coming months, and the final site – an additional site made possible by cost savings – to be connected once construction is completed in summer 2023.

We continue to work closely with the Aberdeen City Region Deal team as they develop options for the remaining funding.

The Scottish Government appointed Dr Colin Church to act as Chair of the Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland. As independent Chair, Dr Church determined the Review process, including seeking evidence from stakeholders through a written Call for Evidence and commissioning further research to inform the Review. Dr Church also held a series of public stakeholder events, which were attended by representatives from the waste industry as well as community groups, local authorities, non-governmental organisations and members of the public. Following these events, which were open to any individual or organisation who wished to attend, Dr Church held invitation-only roundtable discussions, one of which focused on representatives from industry and trade bodies.

Scottish Ministers are still considering the wealth of information provided through the recent National Care Service (NCS) public consultation.

In that consultation we sought views on a remit for the NCS to develop and manage a National Commissioning and Procurement Structure of Standards and Processes for ethical commissioning and procuring of social care services and supports. We will develop the approach to national and local level ethical commissioning and procurement with partners, stakeholders and those who deliver and receive care.

Local authority and other public service social care provision will remain important in delivering social care.

Safeguarding our democracy is of upmost importance to the Scottish Government. This includes being an open, accessible and transparent government. Public officials, including Ministers, MSPs and councillors, are subject to Code of Conducts which provide a clear set of principles and standards for their behaviour, including how to avoid undue interference from external actors. We believe the public should have trust in those they elect.

There will be no delay to year one of the Just Transition Fund as a result of the revised timetable for publication of the Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.

The Scottish Government has published two progress reports following the initial publication of A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan in December 2018. These were published in March 2020 and March 2021.

Labour Market Statistics are published regularly by the Scottish Government and include data on disabled people’s employment rate, and the disability employment gap. The most recent full year figures for the Annual Population Survey, allowing comparison with our baseline year (2016), were published on the Scottish Government’s website in March of this year.

We are currently in the process of refreshing A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan, to be published in Autumn 2022 as part of a single, unified Fair Work Action Plan. Where appropriate, this will include a refresh of actions that remain in progress, whilst also identifying new action to be undertaken to reduce the disability employment gap.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-07563 on 22 April 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.